San Francisco Giants' Ryan Vogelsong looks to hand baton to Matt Cain

San Francisco Giants' starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong (32) throws against the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth inning in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ryan Vogelsong spent much of the season feeding off Matt Cain's outings. Now, with the Giants once again facing elimination, Vogelsong is hoping to set the table for his fellow right-hander.

Vogelsong takes the ball Sunday in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, the fifth must-win game for the Giants in 13 days. His goal is to do enough to give Cain the opportunity to tango with the St. Louis Cardinals in a winner-take-all Game 7 in Monday.

"Hopefully I can go out and throw up a good one on Sunday and hand the ball over to Matt," Vogelsong said after the Giants' Game 5 victory Friday. "He can throw a good one up and make this thing real interesting."

It already is, and Vogelsong helped get the ball rolling with a stellar Game 2 outing that he said was one of the sharpest of his career. Vogelsong felt something click with his delivery in the third inning and cruised through the seventh, giving up just four hits in a 7-1 win that temporarily evened the series.

In a postseason run brimming with fairy-tale storylines, Vogelsong is writing another chapter to his improbable story. He has beaten the odds over and over again, so Vogelsong sees no reason why the Giants can't keep coming through with their backs against the wall.

"You win some, you lose some," Vogelsong said. "But when you can't lose, I think we definitely do play a little harder."

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Vogelsong, 35, couldn't have gone any harder in Game 2. Afterward, he said he was exhausted, and for him, that was a good thing.

"It means you know your mind was working and you were really concentrating," Vogelsong said.

It's not just Vogelsong's mind that has been given a workout this season. Much of the focus after Game 5 was on Barry Zito's long journey with the Giants, which nearly came to a halt this spring when he was struggling just to make it through the first couple of innings of spring training starts. Zito did end up taking his first turn in the rotation; Vogelsong did not.

Vogelsong missed nearly all of spring training with a back strain and didn't take a mound until March 23. He started the season on the disabled list but missed just one start and made 31 in the regular season.

Two days before his final regular season start, the famously intense Vogelsong smiled when recounting another successful season.

"To be honest with you, yes, I'm surprised I made this many starts," he said.

Even after putting up All-Star numbers in the first half, Vogelsong wasn't guaranteed a postseason start because of brief skid. But he locked up a spot in the postseason rotation with a strong finishing kick and has been the Giants' most consistent starter in October. In 12 postseason innings, Vogelsong has given up only seven hits and two earned runs.

Is the journeyman now a big-game pitcher?

"No, I don't think two games make you that," Vogelsong said.

Vogelsong's teammates feel differently. The rallying cry before Game 5 was to get the series back to AT&T Park, where the Giants could ride Vogelsong and Cain.

"We've got out hands full," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Our guys are going to have to be more disciplined in their zone and not miss the mistakes.

"We have to put a better game plan together than the last time."

Vogelsong will make tweaks, too. The mental drain doesn't exist only when Vogelsong is on the mound; he tirelessly watches clips of opposing hitters and threw a rigorous bullpen session in St. Louis in advance of this latest biggest game of his career.

By the time he walked out of the interview room Friday night, Vogelsong already had his game face on. Whereas most starting pitchers avoid the media and teammates on the day they pitch, Vogelsong starts closing off his world the day before a start. By the time Game 6 rolls around, Vogelsong will limit his conversations to just one partner, catcher Buster Posey.

"We'll say a couple of sentences about what's going on in the game," Vogelsong said. "But I don't talk to anybody, period, until the game is over."

Vogelsong doesn't need anybody to talk to him about what's at stake.

"All season I saw that it seemed like for the most part, when one of us threw well, we kind of got on a roll," Vogelsong said. "I'm going to have to be sharp because with (Chris Carpenter) on the mound, one run can lose a game for you.